Mommy Dearest
by Kavi Leighanna
Summary: It's hard to be a mother and an agent and from the moment she was called away she knew it was about to get harder. Interlude in the Years Go By Series. H/P, J/Re, M/G
1. Chapter 1

_**I shouldn't do this. I know I shouldn't do this. But I'm doing it anyway.**_

_**A few things before we delve into the real meat and potatoes...**_

_**I managed to find a better name for this universe. I never liked "Life in the BAU" but I needed some way to indicate that they were all in the same universe. I promise not to change it again, but the universe was changed to "Years Go By" since it's covering so many points of life. The stories are One of Your Own, Growing Up BAU, Out Living My Life and Fair Winds and Following Seas.  
**_

_**This story specifically was spawned because Silvia asked if I was planning to flush out the two chapters in Out Living My Life that had to do with Emily being kidnapped. And she's been an absolute godsend in ironing out the details and helping me build the case. Hon, I owe you this story. Consider it dedicated to you for being so integral in the planning process.**_

_**The chapters in Out Living My Life that correspond with this story no longer exist. I took them down so I could start this from scratch and get a chance to write a case-centered fic for this universe, rather than just chapters. For the purposes of a timeline, however, this would theoretically be taking place during Out Living My Life.  
**_

_**I'll put a family refresher course at the bottom of this chapter.**_

* * *

_Years Go By - Interlude_

**Mommy Dearest  
**

**CHAPTER ONE**

--

"Hey there, Blake! It's been a while."

The seven-year-old nodded his head sadly at a woman he usually chatted with just before he walked into the office of Dr. Leo Dale. Blake had been seeing a psychologist for years, most specifically this psychologist. His father had gotten worried when his only child had become more and more reclusive and when he couldn't do anything to bring him out, sent Blake to see someone who could.

Blake liked Dr. Dale, very much. They were a lot alike, or at least, they had been when they were kids. They both liked soccer, they both collected rare comic books and action figures – Dr Dale had even brought a few in to show Blake – and both loved Monopoly. But most importantly, at least in Blake's mind, was that Dr. Dale's mother had rarely been home.

Blake himself had a mother that was a flight attendant, often gone for days at a time because of her schedule. He was close with his dad, but he missed his mom. It had been Dr Dale that had helped Blake see that he also resented his mother, a subconscious part of him believing that she was leaving him behind on purpose. Sure, his mom brought back all kinds of neat things from her travels, but it wasn't the same as having her there all the time. His mother had missed soccer games, parent-teacher interviews, parents' days… There had been a lot of disappointment in Blake's life.

Then, the unthinkable happened.

Three weeks ago, there had been a plane crash. There had been survivors, and Blake had been hopeful, but to no avail. His mother had perished in the crash. His father was devastated, heartbroken and it had taken him three weeks to get out of the house. That was the main reason Blake had missed three weeks of twice-a-week appointments.

"Hey," Kelsey, Dr Dale's secretary came around the desk to squat in front of him. "What happened, honey."

Blake felt the tears welling his eyes for the millionth time since his mother passed away. Kelsey had become a second mother to him. They'd talk on the phone when he made his appointments sometimes. She checked in about his life, asked him all of the questions his mother should.

"Where's your dad?"

"He dropped me off and left," Blake answered finally, the first words he'd said to the woman. "He probably went home."

Kelsey's hand came up to Blake's head, stroking over his hair. "Sweetheart, what happened?"

"Blake?"

Blake slammed his eyes closed, forcing himself to take deep breaths like he had every other time the tears threatened. "Hey Dr. Dale."

"Come on in, Buddy. Let's get started."

Blake took his customary seat on the couch, Dr Dale taking the seat beside him. Their relationship had become less doctor-patient as they discovered how much they had in common and though Dr. Dale still took notes during their sessions, he sat beside Blake instead of across the small coffee table from him.

"Blake?"

"My mom was one of the ones killed in the plane crash."

Blake saw Dr. Dale jolt out of the corner of his eye. He'd known there was no other way he'd be able to tell the story than bluntly. Working up to it just wouldn't work, wouldn't help him, and Dr Dale had always encouraged him to speak his mind.

"I'm sorry, Blake."

"That's what everyone's been saying. It's why I haven't been here in a while."

"But you're here now. What do you want to talk about?"

For the hour he was scheduled, Blake talked about his mother, about her death, about her funeral, about his resentment, his anger and how he still loved her. He'd always loved her, always would love her, even though she was rarely around. For the first time since they'd started, Dr Dale was virtually impassive through the entire exchange and Blake found himself getting frustrated.

"I just want it to go away. I want to feel normal again," he said as Dr. Dale ended their session.

"You will."

Blake didn't believe him. His smile was tight, but he put on his coat and went back to the waiting room. His father was there, ushering him out the door. He had enough time to wave to Kelsey and thank Dr Dale before he was being whisked down the hall.

But he did hear Dr. Dale say he had an errand to run.

* * *

John rolled his eyes in his head as yet another customer came through the line. It was lunch time, and while he understood why the upper management liked the idea of having their little boutique café right beside a conference center, it drove John nuts. The line was always endless from about eleven am right up until two. But he was due on break any time now, whenever Lindsay finished taking out the garbage.

"Come on, Linds," he said under his breath. "It's just the garbage."

Then he heard her scream. He bolted, following the sound, knowing it was coming from outside. Lindsay stood there, her hands over her mouth, looking wide-eyed at something behind the dumpster. John had expected to find a dead rat, or a massive spider.

Instead, he found a body.

* * *

**_Okay, first chapter! The second one is just as short so I might put it up in a couple of days, and some more of Alive into the vault before I update. I have a backlog on this one, thankfully. A whole bunch of chapters.  
_**

**_Now, the families and the ages of their children for the purposes of this story:_**

**_Penelope Garcia married Derek Morgan in the first chapter of Out Living My Life and they have a daughter, Gabi (11) and a son Chris (6)_**

**_Jennifer Jareau married Spencer Reid in Growing Up BAU. They have a daughter, Calleigh (8), and two sons, Nate (6) and Eric (4)_**

**_Emily Prentiss married Aaron Hotchner in Growing Up BAU and they have three biological children, and Jack (17). Anna-Joy "AJ" (10), Kate (8) and Seth (5)_**

**_I do believe that is all the relevant information you're going to know to be able to understand this story._**

**_Reviews are appreciated!  
_**


	2. Chapter 2

**_I know I said it would probably be a few days before I got this up, but then, I realized that it would probably be a lot simpler if you could see something from the team's point of view. Mind, the only reason these are labelled chapters 1 and 2 and not as prologues is because I wanted to split them into two so.... Heh. _**

--

_Years Go By - Interlude_

**Mommy Dearest  
**

**CHAPTER TWO**

--

Supervisory Special Agent Emily Prentiss could count on one hand the number of times she'd been pulled into the principal's office, as it were. She was an exemplary agent, there was no doubt about that. She did her job, and she did it well, and somehow, up to this point, she'd managed to balance it with three full-time and one part-time child.

"Agent Prentiss?"

Emily stood, obsessively and habitually straightening her jacket. She'd been lucky. Today had been a court day – hence the chosen skirt – and so she was already appropriately dressed to face the upper echelons of the FBI. The only thing that made her feel a little more comfortable was that Dave had been called into the meeting too. At least she had someone on her side if they were going to ream her out.

She stepped through the conference room door – she'd been surprised to find that the meeting was going to be held in one of the smaller meeting rooms at Quantico – and looked around the room. Strauss she recognized immediately, as she did Dave. The rest, however, she couldn't identify.

"Agent Prentiss, take a seat."

She did, beside Dave. He surreptitiously reached over and squeezed her elbow and Emily did take some comfort from that gesture. There were two other men present, one young-looking with a full head of hair and a plan book spread out in front of him, the other older, balding and official-looking.

One of the men cleared his throat. "I'm Deputy-Director Hanson."

Emily knew who he was. Not only had the man gone through the Academy with Dave – she'd been around when the man had come visiting the BAU – but he'd also been the man who had talked her husband into taking the Quantico teaching job instead of switching to a desk unit. Emily was eternally grateful for that transfer. Aaron Hotchner was not one to sit at a desk all day. Still, all of that didn't calm the nerves in her stomach a bit.

"Emily, you're not here because you did something wrong," Dave said, shooting his friend a look. "Jeremy, you swore you wouldn't scare her."

Deputy-Director Hanson laughed, and Emily noticed Strauss smiling tightly. Whatever was going on, Strauss wasn't happy with it.

"Agent Prentiss, I have a proposition for you."

Emily leaned forward in her seat. "I'm listening."

"As you know, the BAU doesn't just do national work. We do international consults, though with our own case loads, it's not often."

Emily had been vaguely aware of that. She'd never been part of any of the international consults, but she was aware they existed.

"With the way things seem to be heading, we want to be able to say we play a big part in profiling on the international stage," Deputy-Director Hanson continued. "We've been talking, other units and I and we want to create a unit that is specifically for international profiling."

Emily blinked. It sounded like a logical enough idea to her.

"It's a downgrade in the travel simply because we can't afford to send units overseas all the time, so it would be a lot of phone and video consults with international teams like this," the Deputy-Director continued. "We're hoping for a unit of four to six people, including a media liaison like Agent Jareau."

"Emily," Dave jumped in, impatient as always. "They want you to head the unit."

There was no way she was going to be able to stop her jaw from dropping or her head from spinning. Run her own unit? An international unit at that?

"Your experience with international politics makes you a prime candidate for the position," the Deputy-Director offered. "Dave has nothing but good things to say about your work in the BAU and we want our best people in the unit."

Emily was still stunned. "I… I'm honoured, sir. Very much so."

"Does that mean you're willing to head the unit?" the younger man interrupted, the first time he'd spoken.

"I… I don't know," she admitted. "I… I need time to think about it. I'll have to talk to my husband."

The Deputy-Director favoured her with a smile. "We can only give you a week to make your decision. The faster we get the unit up and running the better, and we'd like to get your opinions on the others we're considering."

Emily was more than floored and flattered as she exited the office, Dave at her side. They were on the elevator when she finally looked up at him. "What the hell happened in there, Dave?"

"I do believe you were offered a promotion," Dave said with a smile.

She huffed out a breath. "You shanghaied me. You knew that was coming," she accused.

"I knew they were considering you. I had no idea you were the first choice," Dave replied.

Since Dave's return and with Emily's marriage to Aaron, she and Dave had developed a strong friendship and camaraderie. He was Uncle Dave to her kids – downgraded from Grandpa Dave, like the team often teased him – and he was as good as family.

"Talk to Hotch about it, you have a week."

_Yeah,_ Emily thought to herself. _A week to make a decision that's going to change everything._

She hated those kinds of decisions.


	3. Chapter 3

_Years Go By - Interlude_

**Mommy Dearest  
**

**CHAPTER THREE**

--

The problem was, Emily wasn't sure how to bring the subject up. When Kate had been born, and Aaron had been struggling with the idea of changing jobs, they'd talked about it a lot. Both of them loved the work they were doing in the BAU. There was no doubt that they loved their children more, but their work played such a large part in defining who they were, that for either of them it was a difficult decision to make.

She'd been hoping to bring it up at the end of the week when they actually had days to think about and discuss the idea. That had been her original plan and she was satisfied with it as she sat with Seth curled in a blanket in her arms, AJ between her and Aaron on the couch, and Kate curled up against Aaron's leg. When the phone rang, she absently reached for it.

"Hello?"

"Em, it's JJ. I tried your cell…"

"It's upstairs in my purse," Emily replied, glancing up the aforementioned stairs. "Is everything okay?"

The sigh that floated over the phone lines told Emily everything she needed to know. Reluctantly, she shifted Seth out of her arms, not looking at the rest of her family as she left the room. "JJ…"

"It's not looking pretty, Em," JJ replied. "I wish there was another way."

Emily knew that she would be leaving. Heck, just over eight years ago she wouldn't have thought twice about dragging her butt into the BAU in the evening to take off for a case, but now, with three children, a _family_, it irritated her to no end. "Okay. I'll be twenty minutes."

She knew even before she walked into the room that there would be disappointment on everyone's faces. Even Aaron hated it when she had to leave with the BAU, but unlike her kids, he fully understood the pull. It was moments like these that Emily really liked the idea of switching to the international job.

"Where are you going this time, Mommy?" Kate asked, looking up curiously.

"Aunt JJ hasn't told me yet," Emily replied, crouching down to her level. "Do you think you can take care of Daddy for me?"

"Isn't that Annie's job? She's the oldest."

"Mmhmm, but Annie's got to watch of Jack and make sure he stays out of trouble," Emily replied, ruffling the familiar Prentiss dark hair. Well, it could be a Hotchner trait too. She pushed herself up. "I have to go throw a few things in my go-bag. I'll be back down to say goodbye."

She couldn't help but sigh as she climbed the stairs. There was something to be said about the fact that she was able to say goodbye to her family, but it didn't make it any easier to do so. She wondered how Aaron had done it back when Jack had just been born. She willed away the irrational tears that seemed to punch her nose as she pulled her go-bag from under the bed. It had been a while since she'd re-packed it and was actually glad she'd been home and able to do such a thing. She was just trying to choose what pants to pull out of her closet when she heard footsteps creak on the floorboard at the door. She gripped the closet frame.

"Why is this time so hard?" she asked, feeling his arms slip around her waist.

"Because they're not pulling you away while you're in the office or while you're asleep," he replied. "It's easier to leave when you can't see the disappointment."

She blew out a breath. "You're not helping."

His chuckle was tight and a little awkward as he rested his chin on her shoulder and wrapped an arm around her waist. He hated it when she had to leave, just as much as she did. But, again, like her, he understood why she did it, that she had to do it.

"Maybe it won't be long this time," he offered, the same thing he always said when she had to go.

"Am I going to miss anything?" she asked in answer, taking at least a little bit of comfort from the routine.

"No," he answered, and they both knew that he could be lying. Sure, she wasn't going to miss any recitals, or big things like that, but it was likely she'd miss little things.

She spun in his arms and kissed him for all she was worth. He surged against her, responding in kind for a few moments before reluctantly slowing down and pulling away.

"You're going to be late," he whispered and reluctantly let her go so she could finish packing.

Five minutes later, she was back down stairs, dressed for the office, her go-bag in hand. All three of her biological children were crowded around the door, Seth half asleep in his father's arms, and her girls curled against each other on the stairs. With a sad smile, she leaned in to kiss her son's head, running her hand over his hair.

"You guys behave for Daddy, okay?" she said as she moved next to Kate and AJ.

"I promise to be good if you promise to come home," AJ replied, raising her arms to wrap them around her mother's neck as the older woman kissed her cheek.

"I promise to call," Emily said as she repeated the motions for Kate, then straightened, turning to her husband. Words and emotions passed between them with nothing more than a glance and she stepped forward, tilting her head up for a soft kiss.

"Call." His voice was the stern one he'd used in the BAU when he was unit chief.

"Yes sir," she responded quietly. Then she was out the door.

* * *

David Rossi hated away cases. Well, okay, hate was a little bit of a strong word. He knew they were part of the job, and his team – it was the most logical choice after Hotch left, though Morgan, as most senior agent in the unit, had gotten Hotch's office – was nothing worse than top notch, even on away cases, but he knew that every time they left, it broke their hearts a little.

JJ and Reid had three kids of their own, Calleigh, Nate and Eric, as did Emily. Derek and Garcia had Gabi and Chris. As the years had gone by, it had gotten harder and harder for each of them to leave their children behind. Still, he knew they'd learned to make the most out of the time they did have with their children, with their families.

Dave watched covertly from his seat as JJ went about setting out the files for the case. Boulder, Colorado was one of those places that was famous for it's conference buildings, or as famous as one could be for that sort of thing. But a conference wasn't what was pulling the BAU to the city. Three women had gone missing. All three of them had shown up dead. The last two had been out-of-town-ers and the case had been kicked to the Bureau. Agent Patterson from the Denver office had called them in.

His phone interrupted his musings and he glanced down at the caller ID with a smile. "Rossi."

"Uncle Dave, it's AJ."

"Hey, sweetheart," Dave replied, trying to hide his smile. Now that Hotch was out of the BAU, it seemed his children made him responsible for taking care of their mother. This was a normal phone call.

"You gotta take care of Mommy, okay?" AJ said, with all of the seriousness her little eight-year-old body could hold.

Dave was used to this routine, used to these words. He'd been started to wonder when the call would come through. "I promise to take care of your Mom, Annie," he said solemnly.

"And you'll bring her back?"

"And I'll bring her back."

AJ blew out a rather mature sigh for a kid her age. "Okay." She paused. "Bye Uncle Dave!"

Then she was gone. He looked up as he hung up the phone to see JJ in the doorway. Her smile was tight. "We're ready."

He followed her to the conference room, and the round table that dominated the room. Sure enough, the rest of the team was already seated, Penelope Garcia-Morgan with her laptop open, already focused. Her husband, Derek Morgan, watched with an affectionate smile on his face and Dave would bet that his mind was nowhere near the FBI. Spencer Reid sat tapping his foot and discussing something complicated with the woman whose daughter he'd just promised to bring home safely.

"Boulder, Colorado has a serial killer," JJ began, bringing up the three pictures of the UNSUB's victims. "Each of these women went missing three weeks before they showed up dead." The next pictures that came up of their dead bodies and even Dave had to blink. He heard Garcia gasp and JJ removed the pictures quickly.

"Lila Harper was a Boulder native with three kids. They were left with their father, a man on disabilities," JJ said, bring up the family photo. "Aurora Gibbons, a mother of two, was in Boulder for a marketing conference, she was originally from Seattle, and Martha Oliver, mother of three, was also in Boulder on a conference, she's originally from Atlanta, Georgia."

"Mothers?" Emily was the first one to pipe up. "He's targeting mothers."

"Because they're not good mothers? Because they're working mothers?" Derek contributed.

"Could be either of those," Reid replied. "In the early 2000's, about fifty-eight percent of mothers with children under six, and seventy-five percent of mothers with children between six and eighteen were part of the workforce. It's become a staple part of our society."

"Is there something to be said about this conference angle?" Emily asked, making notes in her file.

"It's how it was kicked to the Bureau," JJ offered. "Agent Patterson is the contact at the Denver office and he caught the case after Aurora Gibbons' body was found."

"Let's not keep him waiting, shall we?" Dave said, closing his file. "We'll go over this some more and brainstorm on the jet."

They scattered, to grab their bags and do their last minute things. Dave sighed as he picked up his own things. Something was eating at his stomach. Something wasn't right. But they had a case, and that took precedence over his gastrointestinal tract. So he tucked his folder under his arm as he hit the door of his office, grabbing his go-bag from just inside the door and locking it behind him. His mind was already sliding into the one he used while profiling, tucking away the fact that he was pulling these people away from their families, potentially putting them in danger, and pulling out Agent Rossi.

Something told him he was going to need it.

* * *

_**Okay, huge sigh of relief now that the story is actually off and running? Yeah, I thought so.**_

_**Now, thanks to Silvia, most of this is planned out. And by that, I mean written down, not just planned in my head at the moment, so it shouldn't be too, too long in between updates. **_

_**Please review, yeah?**_


	4. Chapter 4

_Years Go By - Interlude_

**Mommy Dearest**

**CHAPTER FOUR**

--

_Dear Journal,_

Blake wrinkled his nose at the writing. Dr Dale had asked him to start keeping a journal in between visits to help him deal with the grief. To honour the request, Blake had really tried, but as he scratched out the words, he felt stupid. He took a deep breath.

_Screw it,_ he thought as he started writing.

_Why did Mom have to go on that trip? I told her she was going to miss my science fair if she went and she promised she wouldn't. She swore she'd be back, and then she went and died. And the stupid pilot, flying the plane. The police say there's nothing wrong, that it just kind of happened, but I don't believe it. I bet the pilot was drunk or something. He shouldn't have been flying. Mom should have known better than to fly with a stupid pilot._

_But that isn't why I'm doing this. Well, that's not true. Dr Dale told me to do it. But... something's weird with him. Usually he keeps me. Usually he tells me to call if I'm having more problems, but this time he just told me to write in this stupid journal. And he's always telling Kelsey he's got things to do and to cancel his afternoon appointments. I asked her last time I was there and she said she only ever had to do that after he saw me. _

_And he's acting weird in our sessions. He's always asking about my relationship with Mom, about how much I'm mad at her, if I hate her... I'm mad at her, but she's my Mom. I can't hate her, can I? Dr Dale seems to hate her. He thinks he hides it, but I can see it in his face. He doesn't like that she left all the time. He thinks she was never around for me, that she was a bad mother because she had a job to do that took her away from home. He wanted to know if that was why I was mad at her, but that's not true....

* * *

_

Emily shook her head as she looked over the pages of her file again after their first brainstorming session. They had an extremely tentative profile of a man, probably mid-thirties to mid-forties, probably white. They had a preliminary victimology of women who were mothers. They'd been tossing around the idea of adding the transient culture of a conference city, but with the fact that Lily Harper had been a native to Boulder, they were reluctant to actually make that part of the profile. It was the one thing keeping them back from suggesting that the UNSUB was, himself, a person who worked at a hotel, conference center, restaurant... Somewhere the conference people would go regularly.

She couldn't seem to get her mind off of the fact that their UNSUB was specifically targeting mothers. Or at least that was what it was looking like. She checked the time on her phone before letting out a sigh and closing her eyes. It would be bedtime. Seth would have gone down half an hour ago, but AJ, Kate and Calleigh, who often spent away cases with the Hotchners, would just be settling in for the night.

"I know," Penelope said softly from where she was working away on her laptop. "I keep thinking that Chris and Nate have probably built a fort out of Chris' bunk. Fran's probably going nuts trying to get them to bed."

They each blew out a breath, laughing at themselves. They all went away on cases, but it was always the flight out that was the hardest, before they'd all slid into the BAU agents that had brought down some of the roughest, dirtiest, most sadistic criminals. The pilot announced their imminent landing and Emily pulled out her phone again, briefly flipping through the pictures of her children collected on it before closing her heart to those types of emotions. When the case was over, she would go home and hug and kiss her children. Then she was going to take a weekend off.

By the time they all deplaned onto the Boulder airstrip, they were the hardass agents. Agent John Patterson waited for them along with three Bureau issue SUVs. Dave held out his hand.

"Agent Patterson?"

"John," the agent replied, shaking Dave's hand seriously. "Or Pat."

Emily hid her smile. Little personal things like that were ways that the Bureaus often tried to make the visiting agents more comfortable. Most of the time, she liked not being called 'agent'. Sometimes, it was a necessity.

"Agent David Rossi," Dave replied. "And the team, SSA Jareau-"

"We spoke on the phone," John agreed with a smile and a brief shake of JJ's hand.

"-SSAs Morgan, Prentiss, Reid and our technical analyst Garcia."

"Glad you guys could make the trip so fast," John said with a serious nod. "When we saw the targets were our conference population, we knew we were going to need the extra help."

The BAU exchanged a look.

"You think Lila Harper is an anomaly?" Derek asked, keeping his voice conversational.

"All of the other three women were and are from out of town. Out of state even."

"Three?" Emily asked.

John sighed. "Yeah, three. Shannon Kent went missing yesterday. She was here showing her dog. Pedestrians outside of a restaurant found her dog and her cell phone, but not her."

"Have you found Martha Oliver?" JJ asked.

The Denver agent shook his head. "I'm afraid not. She's still missing."

But they all knew the likelihood she'd show up alive. The only reason this UNSUB would take another victim would be because the first was dead.

"JJ, Morgan, you go to the Harper house, see if you can get anything out of the family. And I mean anything, Lila Harper's habits, her favourite places to go, everything down to her favourite pair of socks."

Both JJ and Derek's mouths tilted upwards.

"On it Chief," Derek quipped as he and JJ separated to one of the extra SUVs.

"Agent Patterson, if you could show us the dump sites and places where the out-of-town victims went missing?"

"Of course," John agreed.

"Then Reid, Garcia, stay with the victimology. Prentiss, you're with me."

* * *

Weeks ago, he thought he'd been caught. The cops came pounding on his door, asking about his nextdoor neighbour and he'd managed to keep himself together while they talked. But now... well, they couldn't link him to these ones. Stupid whores, leaving their homes, leaving children behind... And then acting like it didn't matter, like it didn't hurt their kids for them to be away, like their kids understood.

No child understood why a parent left them behind. No one did!

Lila had been easy. She worked, was never home for her kids. She'd begged and pleaded for him to let her go, to let her see her children. They always assumed they had more time with them, that they could make it up to those poor kids living without a mother when it was so obvious they adored her. She'd only cried as he snuffed the life out of her.

The next one... hell, he didn't know, nor did he care about her name. She'd screamed herself hoarse and no one had heard. That had been a thrill he hadn't been expecting. She'd tried everything from struggling to begging until he ended it.

Then there had been two others and now... He looked down at the pitiful excuse of a mother cowering at his feet.

"Please," she sobbed. "I have kids."

He slapped her, the rage welling up in him faster than he could deal with it. "Then why the hell are you here? Why would you leave your kids behind?"

"I'm only here for a week," she cried. "Then I'm going home. Just a week. Please, let me go. Let me go back to them."

He hit her again. "Stupid bitch. You think you can just up and leave your kids without repercussions? You think they don't resent every moment you spend away from them?" His smile turned predatory. "You'll see. You'll all see."


	5. Chapter 5

_Years Go By - Interlude_

**Mommy Dearest**

**CHAPTER FIVE**

Hours later, Emily and Dave returned to the precinct after looking at the places each of the women had been abducted. Well, almost. They'd looked at Lily Harper's dumpsite while JJ and Morgan were in charge of inspecting the kidnap site since it was the end of the street the Harpers lived on.

"Okay," Dave said noticing everyone was already there. "Let's go over the new things we've learned?"

"Other than all being mothers, the women had nothing in common," Reid said, motioning to the pictures and facts they'd posted on a board. "Lila Harper worked two jobs while her husband was on disability and, as we've already said, lived in Boulder."

"Nice neighbourhood," Derek added. "Probably picked up the second job to try and keep up the regular life style, but it meant she wasn't home often. The residential street would have made it fairly easy for the UNSUB to attack her. Neighbours all say the streets get quiet around eight pm. Lila Harper left work that night for a ten pm shift."

"We took the liberty of calling her employers," JJ piped up, "Who all say Lila was a good worker, a hard worker and a nice woman. No one had any complaints, and her superiors all say she didn't have any problems with her co-workers."

"Garcia?" Dave prompted.

"A few speeding tickets, a few parking tickets, but nothing noteworthy," the blond replied.

"Aurora Gibbons went missing from a cafe around lunch hour," Patterson said, tapping the board where the woman's picture hung. "She was at a conference to upgrade her training. Her co-worker was the one to report her missing after Aurora didn't show up for the afternoon sessions or dinner. Apparently she wasn't the type to miss out on anything like that and coupled with the fact that when we called her boss he said if she didn't finish the course she'd lose her job made us think it was the genuine missing article."

"All of our women were found in back alleys, where they could be easily found, but not obvious," Emily added.

"Starting with Aurora Gibbons, each of the women were on the phone when they were abducted," Garcia spoke up. "With their families."

"Shannon Kent was abducted off the street, so was Martha Oliver," John pointed out.

"He has to stalk her," Dave said, looking at the lists. "Garcia, check phone records for all the women. Did they have a time they always called their families?"

"Shannon Kent's husband said she was obsessive about time," John offered, checking his notes.

"Well, that explains why she called home twice a day, once in the morning, once at night."

"Good morning and good night," JJ, Penelope and Emily said together.

"Probably," Dave agreed with his own affectionate smile.

"Her last call was to her home. Seven thirty on the nose," Penelope said.

"JJ get on the horn. Get local media to share the story so we can see if there's anyone who might have seen something suspicious the day Shannon Kent disappeared," Dave ordered.

JJ was half way out of the room before Dave had even finished the order. "Consider it already done."

* * *

Later that night, when Dave had called time out for them to get some rest, Emily stood in the lobby of the hotel, looking out the front window.

"I drew a picture today," AJ told her mother seriously. "But the teacher told me to draw a new one."

"Why?" Emily asked, relishing the time talking to her kids.

"A'cause it was you and Uncle Derek and Aunty Jenny and Uncle Spencer and Uncle Dave fighting crime," AJ replied simply. "She said it wasn't propriate."

"Appropriate, sweetheart," the mother corrected gently.

"Yeah. That."

Emily shook her head affectionately. They were a family of FBI agents, what did the teacher expect her daughter to draw, especially when most of her family was away fighting crime."

"So I drew one where you were getting the bad guy. She didn't like that either."

Emily pursed her lips. "We're going to be okay, honey."

"I know," AJ responded cheerily. "Uncle Dave promised."

This time, the mother laughed. "Of course he did, sweetheart. Okay, put your Daddy on the phone."

"Yup! Night Mommy! I love you!"

"I love you too, Baby."

She sighed heavily as she waited for AJ to pass the phone to her father. It was cases like these she missed her husband more than anything and wished with everything in her that he was there, that she could just wrap her arms around him and remember that everything was okay.

"Em?"

"Hey." She cursed the tears that punched at the back of her eyes, knowing Aaron would be able to hear them in her voice.

"How are things?"

"They're things," she answered. "He's attacking mothers, Aaron. Three of them were mothers away from home. He's leaving their corpses behind dumpsters in restaurant alleys." She knew she didn't have to tell him anything more. He'd be able to make all of the connections simply from that information.

"Emily you are not a bad mother."

"My daughter's drawing her family taking down criminals because we're away. She didn't even draw us as superheroes."

Aaron chuckled. "Actually, she did."

"The woman called you?" Emily asked with a groan.

"No, sent a letter home with both pictures. I think she thinks Annie has problems."

"Annie's the daughter of two FBI agents, of course she has problems," Emily replied.

"No," he corrected, using a stern voice he only pulled out when she was being difficult, either consciously and blatantly, or subtly and subconsciously. "She's interested."

"In the FBI? Aaron, our children are-"

"That's not the deal we made when they were born," he interrupted gently. "Em, if Annie wants to be in the FBI, let her be. We both did our jobs because we knew how important it was, because we felt like we were making a difference in people's lives."

Emily sighed. "But does it have to be so far from home?"

Aaron was very aware of how difficult away cases had become, if only because he wasn't there. JJ and Reid had each other, Derek and Penelope had each other, but she and Dave didn't have anyone. Well, Dave didn't have anyone period, but that didn't change anything. The reason the Hotchners had adopted Dave into their immediate family was exactly because of that.

Emily looked down at her shoes. "I wish you were here."

"I know. Me too."

There was a pause before Emily blurted out, "It might be time to leave the BAU."

"Don't let the case get to you," Aaron contradicted. "You're doing what you love."

That much was true, and there was no doubt about it. Emily loved her job, but she'd started missing her children more and more over the last years. She wanted to be at home to go yell at AJ's teacher for suppressing her daughter's wants and creativity. She wanted to be the one dropping Kate off at dance the next day, and picking her up. She wanted to hear Seth's little footsteps as he raced to greet her at the door when she got home.

"Sweetheart," Aaron's voice broke into her thoughts. "Go get some sleep."

She sighed. "I love you. So much."

"I know. I love you too, even more than that. I'll see you when you get home."

"Hopefully soon."

"Hopefully soon."


	6. Chapter 6

_Years Go By - Interlude_

**Mommy Dearest**

**CHAPTER SIX**

Almost a week later, they got the call about Martha Oliver's body. An employee of a nearby restaurant had found her tossed behind a dumpster while he was taking out the trash. Coroner's determination was that she'd been dead about a week, buried behind garbage bags. The overabundance of flies and sudden appearance of rats and maggots had been what had made the kid go digging in the pile of trash bags beside the dumpster.

"He sees them as trash," Derek said as the BAU stood in a circle at the end of the alley. They'd been in Boulder a week and a half and had no idea where Shannon Kent could be.

"Which leans towards him believing he doesn't think they're good mothers," Emily offered with a sigh, her hand coming to her forehead. Cases like these always hit closer to home with them. Most cases hit closer to home than they'd like and had since Gabi had graced them with her presence. They were too much of a family to remain unaffected by families torn apart by grief.

"We need a trigger. What happened to him that would make him start killing," JJ lamented. "This guy didn't just wake up one day and decide 'today's a good day to kidnap a woman, keep her for three weeks, then dump her in an alley after strangling her'."

Spencer was mumbling to himself as he looked over Martha Oliver's body suddenly, his head came up. "That's it!"

"What's it, Reid?"

"There's a primary trigger, there's no doubt about that, but these women... he probably frequents the restaurant where Aurora Gibbons was taken, heard her talking on the phone and started stalking her. Same with Martha Oliver and Shannon Kent."

"And Lila Harper?"

"His first victim, he hadn't perfected his MO yet," Spencer said excitedly. "Agent Patterson said it himself, the conference population is transient, they come and they go and more often than not, no one really thinks twice. Someone believes they've gone home early, they didn't show up to the conference, but our UNSUB is kidnapping them close to the ends of the week, when their conferences would be winding down."

"The phone's the trigger," Dave murmured. "He hears them, probably talking to their kids... He was walking by Lila Harper's place when he heard her saying goodbye to her kids? Heard them whine that she was leaving again?"

"Abandonment issues. Probably his mother left him," Derek nodded slowly, already picking up his cell phone. "Beautiful I need those fantastic hands of yours..."

* * *

While Garcia's information was running through her computers, the team dropped by a take-out place to pick up dinner. While they waited, Emily stepped out to make her daily call home. She sighed heavily as she dialled the number. She wanted to be home. She didn't want to be here talking to them, she wanted to be looking at them, able to wrap her arms around them. She wanted to cuddle up with her daughters to read them a bed time story, to tuck her son in...

"Mama!"

Emily actually laughed outright at her little boy's voice on the phone. "Hi there, Seth."

"Dada! It's Mama!"

She heard Aaron answer the affirmative and blinked back tears. "How are you?"

"Good, good!" Seth responded. "I tied my own shoes!"

Emily blinked away tears. She'd missed her baby tying his shoes? "That's brilliant."

"I'll show you when you get back."

"I'll look forward to it."

Then there was a juggling of the phone and Emily shook her head affectionately. Of course Seth didn't have the mental capacity to focus for that long.

"Hi sweetheart."

"How are things?"

"The house is still in one piece, if that's what you're asking. We're all fine, Em."

"Kate got to-"

"Yes, dear."

"And everything with Annie's teacher-"

"Went fine. I talked to AJ too, she's going to see about doing a little bit less of the crime fighting side of our family and more of the sunshine and happiness."

She sighed. "I should have been there for that conversation."

"You can't keep beating yourself up like this, honey. You're a fantastic mother."

Emily heard a child's voice. "Daddy! Daddy!"

"Annie wants to talk to you."

"Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!!!"

She laughed at the exuberance of her eldest biological child. "Hi, dear."

"Jack came! And he promised me he'd help me bake cookies this weekend!" AJ gushed.

"That's great, sweetheart. I'm glad you're having fun."

"Well, not yet. And I don't know what kind of cookies... What's Uncle Dave's favourite cookie?"

"Are you telling me you'd make your Uncle Dave cookies but not your own mommy?" Emily teased.

"Uncle Dave promised to bring you home safe," AJ said seriously. "It's just a thank you!"

"Okay, okay!" Emily replied, trying to hide her smile.

Then her daughter squealed and Emily knew what was coming next. "Gotta go Mommy!"

"I love you," Emily called into the phone, then immediately pulled it away from her ear as AJ dropped the phone. She shook her head. Someday, she was going to teach her daughter to set down the phone.

"Em?"

"Still here."

"Someday-"

"Yeah."

"Daddy! Daddy! I wanna talk to Mommy!"

Both parents chuckled. "Here's Katie."

"Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!!"

She laughed. Sometimes both of her daughters may have well as been twins. "Hey honey."

"Guess what?!"

"What?"

"Corrine said that I was doing really, really well with my vocal stuff and she said I could even move up to working on stuff in the next level at the end of the month!"

Emily grinned at the exuberance in her daughter's voice. "Katie, that is awesome."

"I know! And we started doing our spring dance for hip-hop. Jesse says she's going to have a hard time picking and chore-choro..." There was a moment while Kate puzzled out the word. "Choreographing it all because we have some really good dancers... And Mommy, she said one of them was me!"

"Oh honey! That's fa-" But she couldn't finish the words. Someone had slipped a hand over her mouth, blocking out any sound. Emily felt her eyes widen as she realized what was going on. No, this couldn't happen to her. No. She would not be a victim, no way. And not with her daughter on the phone. She felt the needle pierce her skin and her body react to the drugs. Her brain started to panic. This couldn't happen to her. No...

And all that she could hear was Kate frantically calling her name from her Blackberry.

* * *

_**Okay, I wasn't originally going to post this, but I have two chapters back for Fair Winds, so I have things to post, and I have Any Fool floating around in my head, so I decided I could update this. On the down side, this is the last chapter I have back for this story. Which is VERY unfortunate considering where I'm leaving it. I am working on the next one, writing it out as we speak, but I have a crapload of stuff coming in this week so I don't know if I'm going to get a chance to finish it any time soon.**_

_**We'll see!  
**_

_**Feedback pretty please?**_


	7. Chapter 7

_Years Go By - Interlude_

**Mommy Dearest**

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

Aaron had been holding Kate in his lap when she started screaming for her mother. Originally, he had no idea how to react. He had no idea what was happening and thus, what to do. Then Kate had started crying in earnest, still calling for her mother through the phone. He reacted then, automatically, wrapping his arms around his daughter as Jack raced in from the kitchen. Aaron managed to extract the phone from Kate's hand, holding it up to his ear.

"Emily? Emily are you there?" He swallowed thickly when there was nothing but a dial tone in his ear. Panic reared up in his stomach as Jack stood over him, AJ clinging to his side. Seth, bless the four-year-old's oblivious soul, was too young to understand that something was happening. He was still focused on the cartoons dancing across the television screen.

"Dad," Jack said finally. "What's going on?"

Aaron clicked off the phone, panic now crawling up his throat. He couldn't breathe. "I... I don't know," he admitted. And he really didn't. Kate was sobbing hysterically into his shirt and he rubbed a hand up and down her back, encouraging her to try and breathe. "I don't know."

"Why is Katie crying?" AJ asked.

Aaron took a very deep breath. He could panic later. Right now, three children needed answers. For that matter, so did he. "Jack, can you take Seth and Annie upstairs? I have to call Uncle Dave."

Aaron knew that was enough information for his oldest to know that something had just gone seriously wrong with his stepmother. He didn't ask any more questions, just turned to his youngest sibling. "Seth, come on. Bedtime."

Seth groaned.

Jack pasted on a smile. "I'll read you a story."

That had Seth scrambling off the floor. He idolized his big brother to the ends of the earth. "Anything I want?"

"I'll even read you two," Jack bargained as Seth darted past him, bragging he was going to beat his older brother up the stairs.

AJ seemed more reluctant, more aware that something was terribly wrong. "Why does Kate get to stay?"

Aaron's hand continued rubbing up and down Kate's back. "Annie, I need you to go with your brothers, okay? I need you not to argue with me tonight."

"Come on Annie," Jack cajoled. "I'll give you a piggyback."

Aaron smiled thankfully at his son as Jack moved to help AJ climb onto his back. He, meanwhile, shifted his six-year-old daughter so he could have a better look at the phone. He took a deep breath before dialling Dave's number.

"Agent Rossi."

"Dave," he greeted, his voice barely controlled. "Where's my wife?"

--

Dave's brow pinched. "She just stepped out to call you."

"Something happened to her," Hotch's voice floated over the phone. "She was talking to Kate, then she was gone."

Dave was already moving, heading back out the door the team had entered through. His heart had jumped into his throat. They all knew Emily fit the victimology to the very last detail. It churned his stomach to think that their UNSUB had gotten his hands on her, that he'd been watching her every move.

"Dave, what's wrong?" JJ asked just as he pushed the door open, but Dave ignored the question.

"Rossi," Derek called. "What the hell?"

Dave's head swung this way and that, peering into the Colorado dusk, hoping for any sign of his brunette colleague. He prayed to every higher power that she'd just wandered off down the street, that the signal had been lost on her cell phone. The terrible burning in his stomach was telling him that he was wrong. He wasn't going to be able to give his protégée any good news.

"Damnit Rossi!" Derek exclaimed having followed the Unit Chief outside.

Dave met Derek's eyes even as he passed the information onto Hotch. "Emily's missing."

* * *

"So you've been writing in your journal?"

Blake nodded at Kelsey as she sat beside him in the waiting room of Dr Dale's practice. The good doctor was late. Which sucked. Blake had homework to do, but he'd had to stay after class to write a make up test for one he'd missed. His father had called to postpone his appointment. It was the only reason he was sitting in Dr Dale's office after dark.

"Does it help?" Kelsey asked.

Blake shrugged. "Sometimes." He bit his lip. "Kelsey, what's wrong with Dr Dale?"

Kelsey's heart stopped. The kid had noticed? She cocked her head to the side, trying for an air of curiosity. "There's something wrong with Dr Dale?"

"He's... acting weird," Blake replied, his eyebrows coming together. "I don't know how to explain it really... Like, the other day, we were in his office, talking, and he had the news on. They were talking about a missing woman and how it was connected to one they'd found dead... He... he cut our session short. It was like he had to get out of the room. Like the news report had triggered something in him."

Kelsey chewed her lip. She too had been noticing the times he cut sessions surprisingly short, leaving the office without an explanation and without warning. He'd always been first and foremost committed to his practice, a dedication Kelsey had admired from the get-go. But leaving in the middle of the day, without warning... And he'd been extra secretive, short with her when talking about patients and asking her to do things. He was super tense and, as Blake had said, weird.

"Everyone's allowed to have off times," she finally replied. It was the best explanation she had been able to offer herself, let alone a nine-year-old kid. She knew Blake and the doctor had a very close relationship. "I'm sure everything's fine."

"What's fine?" Dr Dale asked, stepping through the door just then, shucking his jacket and hanging it on the nearby hook. "You weren't talking about me, were you?"

Kelsey and Blake exchanged a glance.

"Of course not, Dr Leo," Blake blurted. "We were talking about how my grades are coming up again." They'd dropped after his mother's death, something Dr Dale had reassured Blake's father was perfectly normal when dealing with loss and grief.

"That's excellent Blake!" Dr Dale exclaimed. "That means we're doing better!"

Blake forced a smile.

"I'm sorry I'm late," he apologized. "I had an errand to run. Shall we get started?"

* * *

**_All hail set up chapters! Well, obviously this had a point, but yes, it was in large part a HUGE set up. That's all I'm going to tell you! You can guess how and which part is going to come back!_**

**_So, I have plans for a nice chapter between Pen and JJ and plans for Emily and our UNSUB as well as a couple of reflectionary scenes for Hotch. All coming up!__ So stay tuned!_**

**_And now that I feel adequately like a commercial, review!_**


	8. Chapter 8

_Years Go By - Interlude_

**Mommy Dearest**

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

PROMPT: **Damages -** Do You Regret What We Did

--

Aaron was frantic. He'd heard nothing from Dave for almost six hours and he was in the midst of panicking. It had been a long time since he'd been in a situation that was this terrifying, this close to home. Emily had said it herself: they were attacking mothers. How was he supposed to function when he knew that the woman he loved could very well end up as dead as the other abducted women.

More than that, he was getting antsy. He didn't like sitting around in Washington when he knew his wife was in danger half way across the country. And what was he supposed to tell his kids? How was he supposed to explain to young children that there was a chance that their mother was not coming home. He wasn't even sure he'd be able to handle it if Emily was killed. He'd lost Haley to divorce and it had almost broken him. He was sure that losing Emily would do just that.

Emily had become the light of his life. She'd given him three more children and more happy memories than he cared to admit. She'd been able to find that illusive balance when they worked together between doing their jobs and having their family. She'd been able to coax him out of the office, remind him that it was nicer to work on consults at home than it was to do them in the cold, sterility of his office. She had been his strength and his rock, and he knew that she felt the same way. They had their fights, their arguments and their disagreements, but they'd promised, with their wedding vows, never to go to bed angry and they'd always found it extremely important to stick to that rule. They weren't perfect, but they loved each other.

He had barely been able to look at Kate's face as she cried and cried and cried. He had no idea what to do, had never felt so helpless in his entire life. He had no idea where his wife was and he had small children who would never understand what was going on. More than that, he knew that there was a chance that she wasn't going to come home to him, come home to their children.

"Dad?"

Aaron ran his hand over his face as he looked up at his son. Kate had cried herself to sleep almost an hour ago, and Aaron had just put her down. He knew that he had to tell his eldest what was going on. If he was falling apart, he knew he was going to need Jack's help. "Emily's missing."

Jack's eyebrow went up, but it was his only reaction. "Missing?"

He knew it would be breaking protocol to share, knew that it would go against the FBI, but this was a woman who was virtually Jack's second mother and the mother to his siblings. "She's been working on a case. The UNSUB has been kidnapping mothers." He knew that was all he needed to say.

Jack's face dropped and he fell to the couch beside his father. "Is she coming back?"

Aaron swallowed. "I don't know, Jack. I really don't know."

* * *

JJ chewed her lip as she looked over the files again. They knew exactly when Emily had been taken, knew what she was doing at the time and they still couldn't find a connection other than the fact that the women were all mothers. It had set JJ's mind whirling. She was a mother too, a woman who was currently away from her children. All she could think of was what must be going through Emily's head, knowing that three other women had died before her.

Was she ever going to get out of there alive?

Or, more importantly, was she ever going to see her children again?

JJ had two children of her own, two fantastic children that she loved with everything in her heart, and she knew Emily felt the same about not just her biological children, but Jack too. The blond couldn't imagine what it would be like to know that there was a chance that you could never see your family again, never see your children again. She sighed again, focusing back on the files in front of her.

"That was a big sigh, Jayje," Penelope said quietly, where she was typing away at her computer. It was just the two of them in the precinct. The others, antsy and anxious, had hit the streets, trying to trace anything that could lead them to their colleague, anything that could help them find out where she may have been taken to.

JJ looked up, chewing her cheek.

Penelope stopped working, cocking her head to the side. "What is it?"

"Do you ever regret it?"

"Regret what?" Penelope asked, pushing her computer slightly out of the way, as if anticipating a dark, deep discussion.

"Regret having kids and doing this job," JJ replied. "I mean, Hotch missed a lot of Jack's life because he was working and missed good parts of AJ's too."

Penelope was quiet for a moment and JJ waited patiently. After too many years of knowing each other, JJ knew that Penelope was trying to figure out what she thought, what she felt, and she knew that if there was anyone in the world she could trust with this kind of a question, it was Penelope.

"No," the technical analyst said finally, softly, shaking her head. "I don't regret it."

"Why not?"

"Because we do this job for them," Penelope replied with a small smile. "We do this job to try and make their worlds safer. And more than that, they give us a reason to do what we do and still come home." She paused and JJ had thought she was finished, but she went on. "Gabi and Chris are the lights of my life. They are the happiness in my days, they are part of the reason I get up in the morning and come in and look at the terrible things we see. But then I go home to these two kids who are so innocent, who have no idea that these people are out there, and I'm no longer a crime fighter, I'm a mother. It's the greatest gift I've ever been given."

JJ threw that around in her head, thought about it and knew, to a certain extent, Penelope was telling the truth. She didn't regret having the children, but she was starting to wonder if she was really doing what she should be. Should she be so far from home, missing milestones and important moments in her childrens' lives?

"I don't think that's the way Hotch and Emily are feeling right now," she finally said.

"No," Penelope agreed. "But, Jayje, you of all people know we need to have faith. We need to bring Em back, for that good man and those awesome kids. I don't think she regrets a moment of having her three babies and Jack. Not one of us could regret that we do this job either."

JJ shook her head. "How can you be so optimistic?"

Penelope's smile was forced, her eyes haunted. "I have to be. If we lose faith, we lose Em." They were interrupted by Penelope's phone. "Derek?"

"Mama, we need those fingers more than ever."

"I'm listening."

* * *

**_You know what's funny? This took me no time to write. But I kept putting it off and putting it off, but here it is! And it's been meant for this prompt since I started writing this story._**

**_Hopefully the next chapter of this will come a lot faster than this one did. It should be wrapping up soon though, in another 4 chapters or so depending on how much I want to torture Hotch. It was never meant to be that long._**

**_Review please?_**


	9. Chapter 9

_Years Go By - Interlude_

**Mommy Dearest**

**CHAPTER NINE**

Aaron growled into the phone. "Damnit Dave! I need to be out there!"

"Aaron, you won't be of any use," Dave said calmly.

"She's my wife!"

Dave ran a hand over his head again. He was stressed, angry, tired and frustrated. The smartest damned minds in the country and they couldn't find the connection between these women. They couldn't figure out the one thing that set the UNSUB off enough to want to kidnap and murder them. It was absolutely _killing_ him and he could only imagine what it was doing to the man on the other end of the phone.

"Aaron, you need to be there for your children," Dave replied, managing, just barely, to keep his voice level. "There's nothing you can do here." He paused. "Do the kids know?"

"Jack does. I'm not sure Annie would understand and Katie and Seth definitely won't. Kate can't stop crying, she won't go to school… None of them will. They want Mommy."

Dave could hear the anguish in his protégée's voice. It was killing him, torturing him to hear a man he knew was so strong and so stable crack. The man was on the verge of tears. "We're doing everything we can," Dave promised. "_Everything_."

"Do more," Aaron demanded.

"We are," Dave responded with conviction. "There is nothing more we can do."

He knew logically Aaron knew all of this. He'd been on Dave's side of the fence too many times to count when talking to families, but it was always different when it was one of your own.

Aaron blew out an explosive breath. "Can I sit in?"

Because he taught the behavioural classes at the Academy, it wasn't like the former Unit Chief wasn't qualified. Dave chewed the inside of his cheek. The qualifications weren't the question, the question was more about a conflict of interest and his concern that Aaron's participation in their next briefing was going to be more of a hindrance than a help. But Dave also knew that if any of them had been in Aaron's situation, if they had the access he had, they'd all want to be doing the same thing. As it was, they were at the ends of their rope. Their dynamic was a mess, their minds focused on their missing colleague and the way their subconscious minds were painting pictures of what Emily's body may look like if they found her dead. Even if they found her alive they knew it wasn't going to be pretty.

Finally, Dave sighed. "We're just about to start."

Aaron closed his eyes and took a deep breath, allowing the Agent Hotchner mask he so rarely wore to drop into place. He needed to separate himself from his personal connection as much as possible to make this work.

"JJ and Reid just got back from Texas. Shannon Kent's family."

"What did you learn?" Aaron's voice floated on speaker.

"Nothing that can help us find Emily," JJ admitted, anger underlying her voice. "Tom Kent got a call a couple of days before we found Shannon's body."

"No one has called me," Aaron said, and they could all feel the thread in relief that flooded the room. It didn't fix everything, but it was an indication that Emily was probably still alive.

Derek blew out a breath. "Hotch, can you walk us through what happened again?"

They all heard Aaron take a deep breath, calming his patience. He'd recounted his side of the story too many times to count. "Katie was on the phone with Em. They were talking about her dance classes when Katie started to scream for her mother. When I picked up the phone, Emily was gone."

Reid jolted. His brain started running almost too fast for him to keep up, Hotch's words having sparked something in his synapses. The families of their other victims all told the same story of their children screaming for their maternal parent…

"The phone," he mumbled, his brain finally making the connection. "That's it!"

"What's it?" Dave asked in exasperation. "Now is not the time to be cryptic, Reid."

He was already moving out of his seat, heading for their board of victimology. "Each of the women were abducted while on the phone."

"How do you figure that?" Derek asked, eying Reid suspiciously.

"Something Hotch said," Reid replied waving his have dismissively. "Each of the abducted women was on the phone when she was kidnapped, my guess, with their families, probably their children."

"That doesn't fit with Victim One," Dave contradicted.

"She was his practice run," JJ murmured suddenly, eyes clouded. "Something about her tipped him off, irritated him, reminded him of something, probably a mother who was never around."

"Then why change?" Dave inquired. "What made him start abducting women off the streets?"

"Emily was on the phone with Kate." Hotch's voice was sure as it came through the speaker phone.

It was Penelope who turned hollowed eyes on the team. "He's choosing mothers away from their children."

* * *

Aaron watched the press conference on television. By abducting an FBI agent, the BAU's case had hit the national media. For once, Aaron was glad. And, as always, he was impressed at JJ's stoicism as she calmly outlined the Bureau's profile, not once looking like her best friend  
was one of the abducted victims.

His day had been a difficult one. Seth had been fussy all day, crying for his mother, unwilling to calm down for anyone else. Jack had done everything he could to keep Kate and AJ distracted while Aaron attended to his son and the father was sure that if it wasn't for his eldest child, he would have lost it. Even Haley, though she'd seemed resigned about it, had acquiesced to allowing their visitation to change while Emily was still missing. Aaron was more thankful for that than his ex-wife could ever know.

"We're looking for a white male," JJ said calmly. "He is his own boss with flexible hours and has probably been acting strangely since these disappearances began."

"Daddy?"

Aaron turned to find Kate rubbing her eyes sleepily at the end of the couch. "What are you doing up, Katie-Bear?"

"Why is Aunt Jenny on the TV?" his youngest daughter asked.

Aaron opened his arms for Kate, and she clamoured up into them, her hand gripping his shirt tightly. "She's helping to find Mommy," he answered, forcing his brain to focus on only that. His brain had a bad habit of taking him off down the path of death and despair that he couldn't afford to go down with Kate sitting in his lap.

"Are they going to find her, Daddy?"

He couldn't tell Kate the same thing he'd told Jack. Kate was the more emotional of his children, the one most likely to completely break if he so much as implied that there was the slightest chance of Emily not returning to the family fold. "Of course they are, Katie-Bear," he said, trying to inject some warmth into his voice, pulling her small body tight against his.

They had to.

* * *

_**Okay, only a few chapters left! And chapter 10 will be up later today because it's really short. So a double update on this, and hopefully and update on **_**Something More**_**!**_


	10. Chapter 10

_Years Go By - Interlude_

**Mommy Dearest**

**CHAPTER TEN**

When Emily came to, she was tied. She allowed herself a moment to shake off the tail end of the drugs.

"Ah, there's the career woman."

Emily took a deep breath cataloguing as much as she could, sight, feel, smell...

"Nothing to say back?" There was a taunting lilt to the man's voice. "Never thought that your career could damage your own husband's? What about your children, putting yourself on the line like you are."

"You haven't done your research," Emily responded quietly, keeping her eyes closed and her head tilted back against the wall. "My husband made the choice to leave his job and take a different one." She had no idea how much research he'd actually done. It was part of their profile, that he stalked his prey, searching them in databases to determine who they were and what their connections were. Birth records gave how many children, marriage license gave the husband's name.

"Agent Hotchner, I don't appreciate liars."

It took Emily a moment, for while at work she went by Agent Prentiss, for ease of identification. Two Agent Hotchners would be distracting and Aaron had been adamantly against the idea in case someone from his past wanted to hunt him down. "We had a fight about it, for days. He slept in the guest bedroom."

"And you think that was his choice."

Emily shrugged, trying to keep her cool. "I wanted to leave."

He made a humming sound. Then Emily heard the beeping of the phone and opened her bleary eyes. "Agent Hotchner."

Emily sighed. He was speeding up her timetable and she vaguely wondered if it was because of the hullabaloo that would have inevitably resulted from her missing status. He usually kept his victims for a week before calling the family.

"Proof of life? You can't take the Bureau out of the man, can you, Agent."

Of course Aaron would demand to speak with her. He probably hadn't gone into work since she'd been discovered missing, probably called Dave hourly for updates. She made a mental note to get Dave something fantastic to say thank you when she was finished.

"You have two minutes."

Emily felt the phone pressed to her ear and choked out a sob. "Aaron, I love you, and I love the kids."

"I know, honey. I know."

"Tell them" she said, choking back her tears. "Tell them I love them."

"I will."

Then the phone was gone, but Emily felt somewhat relieved. It wasn't the same as having their mother say it in person, but she couldn't do that. She had to believe that Aaron would tell them and that they would believe their father. Because Emily wasn't sure if she was going to be able to get out of this alive.

* * *

Kelsey frowned as she watched her morning news on the office's television. The blond on the TV was talking about the missing women. She sighed, shaking her head sadly. Those poor kids. The women were all mothers, all women who had given birth to children who would never see Mommy again. Kelsey couldn't imagine that. It was like Blake, whom she'd come to treat almost like a little brother.

Her mind flashed back to her conversation with Blake a couple of days before.

_He's…acting weird_.

_Like the news report had triggered something in him._

And before that, Blake had mentioned the abnormal concentration and focus Leo seemed to have on the nine-year-old's journal. Blake had always been almost a pet project for the good doctor, and he'd talked to the kid a lot more than he did the rest of his patients. He'd been reacting funny to Blake, to Blake's case and Kelsey, who typed up the good doctor's notes so they were on file – and not in his unfortunate chicken scratch – had read Blake's notes. Kelsey's gut churned as she picked up the phone and dialed the number on the screen.

"Hello? Um… I'd like to speak to Agent Jareau please," Kelsey said quietly. "It's about the missing FBI agent."

* * *

_**I'm not kidding when I say there's probably 2, max 3 chapters left in this. I write too much more and I'm just going to be dragging out the suffering of everyone involved and you guys are going to get terribly irritated with me. **_

_**Review?**_


	11. Chapter 11

_Years Go By - Interlude_

**Mommy Dearest**

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

Derek adjusted his gun and his earpiece as they stepped up to Leo Dale's house. He hadn't come into the office, still wasn't there. His receptionist was currently down in the precinct, so was the nine-year-old child they figured had set off the whole thing.

"_Blake's mother died a couple of months ago in a plane crash," Kelsey explained to the team at large, sitting at the table they'd been allotted while in Boulder. "Since then, since Blake's started coming in, he's been acting funny."_

Penelope's quick fingers had discovered why. Leo Dale's mother had worked two jobs, her husband on disability and unable to help in the family. Little Leo's mother was never around and had been killed in an industry accident. The connection had been easy to make. His mother had missed things in his life that he'd never forgiven her for and by killing Lila Harper, Shannon Kent, Aurora Gibbons and Martha Oliver, and by kidnapping Emily, he was taking out his rage on his own mother.

_"Leo's always been dependable, responsible. He's always been like clockwork, always comes into the office at the same time, stays the whole day unless he's already told me his has other plans… But since these disappearances, he's been… different. He's been sporadic. And it all started with Blake."_

Derek stopped along with SWAT at the back door of Dale's home. They couldn't hear anything from the inside. The SWAT leader held up his fingers.

3… 2… 1…

Derek felt the adrenaline of the chase set in, felt the adrenaline of a raid rush through his blood as he followed SWAT. Dave and JJ had gone through the front and they met them in the middle. SWAT had taken the upper floor and it was JJ who found the door for the basement. She pulled it open as Derek and Dave aimed their guns at the steps. Derek rushed down first, forcing his brain to clear each room in succession until they found Emily.

She was tied with rope, lying on the floor and Derek found his breath catching as he leaned down to check for her pulse. The minute he touched her, she bucked, her eyes flying open. Derek almost jolted himself, unused to the blatant fear that was in Emily's eyes.

"Em! Em, thank God! She's alive!"

--

She'd never been more thankful to hear Derek Morgan's voice in her entire life. "JJ, get Penelope on the phone, Reid, call Hotch. We've got her. Can you hear me?"

"Yeah," Emily wheezed. "Careful. Ribs. Hospital."

Derek laughed, for there was no way Emily would ever voluntarily go to the hospital. "EMT's are outside."

"Lung," she wheezed wetly. "Hospital."

"Get me an EMT! There's something wrong with her lung!"

She was safe and she was alive and she was going to see her kids again. She blew out a mental sigh of relief as the Emergency Team raced into the room and set about getting her ready for transport. "Aaron?"

"Reid's on the phone with him now. I give him twelve hours before he's down here with your kids."

Emily nodded. "Tell him I love him."

"I will, but you're not going to die, Emily," Derek said frantically.

"We need to go, sir. From the sounds of it we may have a punctured lung," the EMT said as they got her situated on the stretcher. "You'll know more when we get her to the hospital."

"You hang in there, girl," Derek told her sternly. "I will not be the one to tell your family you didn't make it."

"Won't have to," she promised, before her eyes closed and she lost consciousness, putting her life faithfully in the hands of medical professionals. She'd see her children soon, of that she was sure. Because there was no way she was going to leave Kate hanging.

* * *

Aaron was a relieved, but emotional mess. He had no idea what he'd packed in the bags for his children, had no idea how much he'd paid to get the five of them to Boulder, Colorado, nor did he really care. All he was focused on was getting to his wife.

Dave had picked them all up at the airport with good news. She was going to pull through and be fine. She had six broken ribs, a bruised kidney, a semi-collapsed and almost punctured lung, internal bleeding they'd had to do surgery to fix in addition to her broken wrist, dislocated shoulder, sprained ankle and broken collarbone. But she was alive.

"Dave, just get me to the hospital."

As Dave drove, he found himself envious of Aaron and the absolute unconditional love it was obvious Aaron held for his wife. Dave had never been fortunate enough to find that kind of love, the one where you'd move heaven and earth for a person. But it was obvious to the seasoned profiler that Aaron had done exactly that, had most definitely found that kind of love and there was no doubt in Dave's mind from the anguish he'd heard from the man beside him over the last couple of days that if Emily hadn't made it, Aaron would be broken.

"Uncle Dave?" AJ's voice piped up from the backseat.

"What is it, Annie?"

"Is Mommy okay?"

Dave's eyes met the ten-year-old's in the rearview mirror as they stopped at a light. "She's going to be just fine, honey."

The rest of the ride to the hospital was silent, or as silent as it could be with three small children in the back seat. But Jack was there with them, entertaining them as best he could while the two adults in the front focused on other things. Dave could almost feel the anxious hum coming off of Hotch as he drove. When they arrived at the hospital, Aaron was out of the car faster than Dave could even stop it, unbuckling his children.

The entire team stood as they made their way into the waiting room, all four children and Aaron. JJ reached them first, hugging Aaron tightly, telling him again that Emily was going to be okay. Aaron just nodded, the relief palpable. Then he was off towards her room and Penelope, Derek, Spencer, JJ and Dave moved into action to distract the small children. Dave was floored when AJ plopped down on his lap and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.

"What was that for?" he asked, smiling softly at her nonetheless.

"That's for bringing Mommy home safe. Thank you for keeping your promise, Uncle Dave."

Dave found tears springing to his eyes. Bless this small child who had just narrowed everything down to the most important part. Despite the four days Emily had been missing, they'd brought her home, safe and sound, if a little injured.

Once again, the BAU had come out the victors.


	12. Chapter 12

_Years Go By - Interlude_

**Mommy Dearest**

CHAPTER TWELVE

Her eyes were closed, the drugs making her body pleasantly numb. The hospital sheets were unfortunately overstarched and the pillow to lumpy while simultaneously being flat but Emily was alive and that was what really mattered.

The case had been horrible and terribly hard on the team as a whole, but none more so than Emily. Because while the pictures were brutal, the families destroyed and twelve lives snuffed out, Emily was lucky to be alive. She'd been on the phone with Kate when she'd been abducted by their UNSUB and she was thankful the drugs now kept her daughter's frantic and panicked voice out of her head. The irony was that panicked voice was what had kept her grounded and sane while she endured the UNSUB and her four days in captivity.

She was going to see her children again, she was going to see her husband again and, at the moment, she was seriously considering changing her job. She was getting older and it was the perfect time to bring up the new job she'd been offered in the Bureau.

"Emily, thank God!"

Her eyes flew open at his voice, tears springing to her eyes as relief, love and every other emotion she'd been feeling over the last few days poured into her system. "Aaron."

His hand was in hers a split second later, his lips on her forehead. "Oh, thank God you're alive."

"They kids," Emily croaked out, squeezing his hand. "Kate?"

"I brought them," Aaron replied. "All of them. Jack's been a rock."

Emily smiled softly, "Of course he is. I'm so happy you're here."

"Always sweetheart. _Always_."

She took a deep breath, forcing those tears back. "I need to see my kids. I need to see Katie."

The panic in her voice was obvious by the look that washed over Aaron's face. "I'm going to need a minute to prepare them for what they're going to see. You're Superwoman."

"Make it a fast minute," Emily pleaded.

Aaron pressed a soft loving kiss to Emily's head. "I promise."

--

Aaron leaned against the wall outside of his wife's room for a minute, breathing deeply. His heart was racing, aching in his chest. He hated everything but maternity and neonatal wings of hospitals. He tried to pull himself together, tried to find a way to explain to his ten, eight, and seven-year-old children about the injuries their mother had received at the hands of a very bad man. Jack would understand. This wasn't the first family member that had been injured in the line of duty in the poor boy's lifetime. He was almost positive AJ would understand what was going on, but the others were still young, still thought of their mother as this invincible crime fighter. Running a hand though his hair, he made his way back to the waiting room where JJ sat with Jack watching Reid entertain his three younger children.

"Dad?" Jack inquired softly, trying not to draw the attention of all of his siblings.

"She wants to see you," Aaron replied. "Annie."

His eldest daughter's name caught the attention of all of his children and they scampered to create a sort of loose circle around him.

"Can we see Mommy?" Kate asked immediately.

"In a minute," Aaron replied, lifting her into his lap. "I want to talk to you."

"About what?" AJ asked.

"Mommy's really hurt," Aaron replied. "I haven't talked to the doctor so I don't know how bad. You have to promise to be very careful with her, okay?"

Kate nodded immediately and swiftly, bouncing on his lap. She was anxious to see her mother and Aaron couldn't blame her in the slightest. Hearing her mother's kidnapping had been disturbing for the eight year old and he wasn't sure how it was going to affect her in the long run. "Can we go, Daddy?"

Aaron nodded, holding out his hands. Kate took one, Seth the other one and they started off for Emily's room.

* * *

_**Another short one, I know, and probably unsatisfying because those of you who read this story as the two chapters in Out Living will probably recognize it. **_

_**One more to go then this baby is done!**_


	13. Chapter 13

_Years Go By - Interlude_

**Mommy Dearest**

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

Emily sighed and shifted, trying not to jostle the small body beside her while simultaneously attempting to find a comfortable position to lay in. She and Aaron had finally agreed and convinced AJ, Jack and Seth to go back to the hotel with JJ and Reid, but Kate had flat out refused to leave her mother's side, going as far as to essentially threaten to throw a temper tantrum. So Aaron and Emily had tacitly agreed to allow her to stay. Upon entering the room, Kate had immediately climbed up on the bed and with some help from her father and some adjusting on her mother's part, she'd snuggled down and almost promptly fallen asleep.

"I'll move her."

Emily sighed. "I don't want to risk waking her," she admitted. "And she's as much a comfort to me as I'm sure I am to her."

Aaron smoothed his hand over her head. "You couldn't have known it was going to happen."

"That doesn't mean I don't feel guilty for what she heard. She shouldn't have to bear that burden Aaron. She shouldn't have to see me all beaten and broken in here."

"It's part of the job, sweetheart. The kids just don't understand that," he tried to explain.

Emily was already shaking her head before resting it on Kate's. "They shouldn't have to understand, Aaron."

"Emily?"

"The Bureau offered me an interesting job."

Aaron raised an eyebrow.

"It's a trial position. They've never done it before. They want to start a new unit that specializes in international profiling."

"And they like your experience?"

Emily nodded. "They want to bring people in from as many units as possible. Aaron, they've offered me the unit chief job."

He blinked. "I don't..."

"It means no travel, or substantially less travel. It means a desk job where I'm still challenged and I'm still using my skills. It's a fantastic opportunity and it limits the amount of time I'll be out in the field."

"Is this because of the injury?" he asked.

"In a way, yes," she replied, knowing there was no reason to lie. "But it's also about the kids." She looked down at Kate. "They deserve a mother who isn't putting herself in the line of fire all the time. I love my job, but I think this is a very important unit to start and get off the ground. And my language skills are going to come in handy if the unit ends up picking up international cases."

Aaron was quiet for a few moments and Emily could tell her husband was weighing pros and cons. So she put the nail in the coffin.

"Dale told me why he did it," she said softly. "When he was a kid, his mother was never around and he resented her for it, hated her for it. She missed all of his major events, all of his school projects, after she promised time and time again she wouldn't. We promised ourselves and each other when AJ was born that we wouldn't let that happen to us."

He reached out and took her hand, holding it between both of his. "I want you to be sure this is what you want to do," he told her softly. "I don't want this to be a decision you make without thinking about giving up the job you love."

She smiled. "I like the opportunity," she admitted. "And it'll be a good chance for me to pick up a few more languages. I'd be two bullpens over and a floor down if anyone needed me, and it's not like we don't call you now when we're completely stumped. Derek could always put in a call if he wanted. Heck, Derek and I would probably be working together, debriefing and catching up."

Derek had taken over the BAU after Aaron had left and Dave had turned down the position. Emily was sure Dave's retirement eighteen months later had everything to do with it. And she didn't mind being passed over. Technically, Derek was the more senior agent of both of them, and she'd gotten Dave's office when he left anyway. They made the changes with it, understanding exactly why Aaron needed to leave.

He brushed at her bangs. "You're sure you want to do this?"

"I wanted to talk to you about it first," she replied, her eyes drifting closed.

"I think you'll make a spectacular unit chief," he told her. "I think if you really want this job, and you're making it because you think it'll be a good change for you that you should take it. I just don't want you to regret it."

"I don't think I will. I think this will be a good change, for all of us."

"Then it's settled." He kissed her forehead.

Emily blew out a breath, wincing at the pain in her ribs. She looked up at him hopefully. "When are they going to let me out of here?"

Aaron laughed.

* * *

**_And this lovely little interlude in the Years Verse is done! _**

**_Big thanks to everyone who followed, especially when I dropped off the face of the planet on this one. Thanks!_**


End file.
